A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.

Monday, December 18, 2017

A Shooting & a Stabbing Over the Weekend & an Arrest in the Jan. Murder of Awlachew Ayele

Friday evening we had a shooting in the 1500 block of Benning Road NE. The Washington Post reports that the victim was a teenage female who was wounded in the incident, but conscious and breathing when located by police.

There was a stabbing about 2am Sunday morning in the 1400 block of H Street NE. I don't have any information about the victim's status.

MPD also made an arrest Friday in the murder of 66 year old Awlachew Ayele, whose body was discovered along with the body of a dog after a fire at his apartment in the 1100 block of Queen Street NE on January 26th. The fire was later determined to have been intentionally set, but police had stopped short of labeling it a homicide early on. This is a bizarre story that I mentioned back in February when Fox 5 reported that Awlachew had complained to police the afternoon of January 25th that drug dealers had kicked in his door and taken over his apartment. Hours later police were summoned to Awlachew's apartment and he reported that he had been assaulted. The next day he was found dead. Fox 5 also posted video shot inside of Awlachew's apartment in which you can see the words "You Going DOWN" and Ayele's last name written on the wall. Fox 5 also found court records showing police had found drugs during a raid three years before at a different apartment in the same building after another individual made a similar claim about drug dealers taking over his unit. The Fox 5 story says the landlord told a reporter that he had repeatedly complained to police about drug activity at the building, and showed the station emails to that effect.

In June the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Ayele's death a homicide and indicated (per an MPD press release) "the cause of death to be smoke and soot inhalation with other significant conditions being-multiple blunt force injuries." A new Fox 5 piece refers to that backstory, and says Garrett Taylor, 44, has been charged with Ayele's murder. The MPD press release says Taylor has been charged with First Degree Murder. Taylor had been previously arrested in connection with the assault.